In the spring garden

For part two of Forest Friday we headed to the Green Classroom. 

What's that hiding under the leaves?

Crocuses have bloomed! Our fall plantings have come to flower. 

The soil is warm enough to plant some cold weather crops. Thanks Mrs Jackson for sharing her farmer's secrets and helping the girls plant. 

After a long wet and dreary winter, the promise of spring is fulfilled!

How does water move?

For part one of forest Friday, we set out to research the question "How does water move?"

We started out at the head of the stream and observed the storm drain pipe. The children hypothesized about where the pipe comes from, and examined the thin trickle coming through. 

Look how the water moves around the rock!

In some spots it moves fast and narrow. 

In others it is slow and wide. Why does it move differently?

Guesses:

The mud stops it from moving. 

The grass gets in the way. 

The hill makes it go fast. 

How deep is it here? Let's measure!

How does water move near a dam? Let's make it bigger!

Hmmm the water is deep behind a dam...there goes Selena's boot! Nice teamwork to retrieve it. 

Uh oh! There goes Selena!

Cooper to the rescue!

Finally, we got to the end of the stream and wished the water a good journey to Chemong Lake, down at the bottom of the hill. 

We finished up by pretending to be water moving down the hill, fast fast FAST!

Early April stream

Back on the 4th of April we explored a verbal stream on the property. We had a wonderfully wet day! Can you see all the science happening?

Exploring Signs of Spring

We were able to enjoy the nicer weather of last week and were discovering many signs of spring within the Green classroom.  We saw melting pools of ice and new sprouts growing and pieces of soggy bark.  We also saw and felt pussywillows and the warm sunshine.  The boys decided one of the pools could be holding fish and were practicing their fishing skills.  Some participated in the nature scavenger hunt finding other things to see, smell, hear and touch.  Maci decided that collecting a few of these wonderful items was an important job to do and so a bag of treasures was collected of items.  These items will be used later as extensions to further our learning.

Spring is such a wonderful time to experience the changes that are happening outdoors.

Egg engineers

The children became engineers for the final step in the egg project. Using the inquiry process, they had to create something that could carry their egg home in one piece. It had to have a hard exterior and a soft interior, just like a nest. 

They used the following circular process:

Design ---> Gather materials ---> Build ---> Test the prototype ---> Identify Problems ---> design fixes

---> Gather materials ---> the cycle continues.....

Isabelle used pieces of string as her cushioning. 

After testing the prototype, she added structure on top to keep the egg from bouncing out. 

Claire had a double carrier and a double wall system. But we discovered upon testing that if her car went over a big bump the eggs would smash against the top. 

.... So she designed and built a fix with tape. 

Here are a few other creations. No two are alike, just as all our designers bring different ideas, skills, and prior knowledge to the job. 

Egg-scellent work

Now that the dye was ready, the children became artists. They decorated eggs with white crayons and carefully slipped their eggs into the bath. 

Because it was natural dye, we had to be patient as the dye took to the eggshell. Emmett passed the time by counting the white eggs remaining. 

These girls got comfy and kept a close eye on their eggs. 

The final product were these beautiful pastel coulours, ready for their baskets. There were some surprises: "I discovered something. When I put my egg in the purple dye it came out blue!" Said Haley.